Fic: Benevolence (AU, gen with background Wash/Zoe, PG)
Title: Benevolence
Author: sheryden
Fandoms: Firefly
Rating: PG
Pairing: background Wash/Zoe
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 1044
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. I'm just having fun with them.
Summary: AU. Simon Tam is an only child and brilliant doctor in search of adventure. When he heads to a border world to work with a clinic there, the befriends a band of thieves.
Author's Notes: This was written for au_bingo for the prompt "Alternate History: Someone was never born.” The basic premise here is that River was never born, and therefore, Simon never became a fugitive. I kind of liked the idea that he would still find his way to Mal and his crew, though.
Doctor Simon Tam was one of the best and brightest physicians the Alliance had to offer. He was raised with money-the only child of wealthy parents, and he conducted himself with a sense of propriety and dignity. During his young life, Simon had seen very little of the universe, and his parents were fond of telling him that he would do well to keep it that way.
But wanderlust had a way of creeping up on a man, and Simon decided to volunteer for a benevolence mission to one of the border worlds. This mission, he reasoned, would finally allow him to see the parts of the universe that only existed in his imagination.
Once on the planet, Simon was struck by the lack of medical supplies and the sheer need of the people. This was most certainly the frontier, and it was wilder than he had imagined. People were desperate, and they would do all sorts of things to a man who didn’t take the proper precautions
Simon had been warned by the other doctors not to wander too far from civilization. Even in town, one ran the risk of being grabbed by locals who needed a doctor and weren’t above taking one off the streets. He tried to heed that advice as often as he could, but sometimes the sick couldn’t come to the makeshift clinic, and Simon wasn’t above volunteering to go to them.
On one such occasion, Simon found himself walking home from a patient’s hovel late in the night. The streets were still bustling, so he didn’t think he had much cause to worry. But then, a pair of muscled arms reached out and grabbed him from behind. And then the lights went out.
***
When Simon regained consciousness, he was sitting on a bed in a grimy infirmary. He was on a ship, he reckoned. And from the looks of the motley band of thugs staring at him, this was no Alliance vessel.
He sat up and struggled to his feet, only to find himself being manhandled by a hulk of man. Glaring at his captor, he huffed, “Kindly unhand me, you brute.”
One of the thugs, a man wearing a long brown coat and worn boots, burst out laughing, and there were chuckles from among the others. “Well, aren’t you a dandy? Tell me, did the big, ugly brute get a dirt on the pretty white shirt?”
The aforementioned brute laughed along with them until his companion’s words penetrated his brain. “Hey, who you calling ugly, Mal?”
Mal ignored him and addressed Simon. “Now look, Doctor. We don’t aim to hurt you, but we got an injured pilot, and we need you to tend to him.” He motioned toward a man who lay in a bed a few feet away from the one Simon was in.
“There’s a perfectly good clinic in the city,” Simon said.
“Well, we aren’t much on fraternizing clinics crawling with Alliance personnel.”
Letting out a breath, Simon turned to the man who was holding him. “It would be easier for me to tend to your friend if you unhanded me.” When the man let him go, Simon walked toward the bed and found his patient conscious and playing with a pair of plastic dinosaurs.
Mal walked over to the bed. “Hey, Wash,” he said. “Doc’s gonna fix you up.”
Wash grinned at Mal and said, “I want to say how touched I am that you kidnapped a doctor for me. Really, I feel warm and fuzzy.”
Mal flashed a mock glare and turned to Simon. “Examine his head while you’re at it. What supplies we have are stuffed into the cabinets, and if you need something else, you tell Zoe here. She’s gonna stay and mind that you don’t kill her husband.”
Simon glanced at Zoe, a humorless-looking woman who stood guard by the door. He tried to ignore her gaze and started examining the wound on Wash’s leg. It wasn’t terribly bad, but if left untreated, it was an infection waiting to happen. And if it got infected out here in the middle of nowhere… “Uh, Zoe,” Simon called over his shoulder. “If you could get me the bag I was carrying, it has some antibiotics. He’ll need to get started on those immediately.”
As Zoe fetched the bag, Wash smiled. “You ever been kidnapped before?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
“First time is always the hardest, I reckon. Mal will let you go after this. He’s gruff on the outside and soft to a fault on the inside.”
Nodding, Simon took the bag from Zoe’s hands and fished out the desired antibiotics. “That’s a great comfort.”
“Do you have any family?” Wash asked.
“Me? Parents. No one else. I always wanted a sister or brother, but my parents stopped after me.”
“What brings you out to this beautiful hole in the middle of the universe?”
“Adventure, I suppose.” He cocked his head for a moment. “But I think I’ll stay. They need all the doctors they can get.”
“Frankly,” Zoe said from the doorway. “I’m surprised they sent you. They usually don’t pay much mind to the border worlds.”
“Well, I’m attached to a benevolence organization. We work with the permission of the Alliance, but we’re not directly affiliated with them. To tell you the truth, we only have marginally more medical supplies that you do.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Wash said. “There are some good people on these worlds, and they struggle just to get through the day.”
“Yeah.”
Simon finished up Wash’s leg, and true to Wash’s words, Mal and his people let Simon go afterward. Before he left, he gave them meager supply of antibiotics and pain medication for Wash, and he told them if they ever needed a doctor they didn’t need to kidnap him. They could simply ask for his help.
Mal had regarded him with obvious suspicion, but he nodded and said he’d take that prospect under advisement. Several weeks later, Simon was surprised to receive a message telling him to come down to the docks. When he did so, he found a shipment of medical supplies waiting for him with a note that said, Consider these a charitable donation, -W-.
Author: sheryden
Fandoms: Firefly
Rating: PG
Pairing: background Wash/Zoe
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 1044
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. I'm just having fun with them.
Summary: AU. Simon Tam is an only child and brilliant doctor in search of adventure. When he heads to a border world to work with a clinic there, the befriends a band of thieves.
Author's Notes: This was written for au_bingo for the prompt "Alternate History: Someone was never born.” The basic premise here is that River was never born, and therefore, Simon never became a fugitive. I kind of liked the idea that he would still find his way to Mal and his crew, though.
Doctor Simon Tam was one of the best and brightest physicians the Alliance had to offer. He was raised with money-the only child of wealthy parents, and he conducted himself with a sense of propriety and dignity. During his young life, Simon had seen very little of the universe, and his parents were fond of telling him that he would do well to keep it that way.
But wanderlust had a way of creeping up on a man, and Simon decided to volunteer for a benevolence mission to one of the border worlds. This mission, he reasoned, would finally allow him to see the parts of the universe that only existed in his imagination.
Once on the planet, Simon was struck by the lack of medical supplies and the sheer need of the people. This was most certainly the frontier, and it was wilder than he had imagined. People were desperate, and they would do all sorts of things to a man who didn’t take the proper precautions
Simon had been warned by the other doctors not to wander too far from civilization. Even in town, one ran the risk of being grabbed by locals who needed a doctor and weren’t above taking one off the streets. He tried to heed that advice as often as he could, but sometimes the sick couldn’t come to the makeshift clinic, and Simon wasn’t above volunteering to go to them.
On one such occasion, Simon found himself walking home from a patient’s hovel late in the night. The streets were still bustling, so he didn’t think he had much cause to worry. But then, a pair of muscled arms reached out and grabbed him from behind. And then the lights went out.
***
When Simon regained consciousness, he was sitting on a bed in a grimy infirmary. He was on a ship, he reckoned. And from the looks of the motley band of thugs staring at him, this was no Alliance vessel.
He sat up and struggled to his feet, only to find himself being manhandled by a hulk of man. Glaring at his captor, he huffed, “Kindly unhand me, you brute.”
One of the thugs, a man wearing a long brown coat and worn boots, burst out laughing, and there were chuckles from among the others. “Well, aren’t you a dandy? Tell me, did the big, ugly brute get a dirt on the pretty white shirt?”
The aforementioned brute laughed along with them until his companion’s words penetrated his brain. “Hey, who you calling ugly, Mal?”
Mal ignored him and addressed Simon. “Now look, Doctor. We don’t aim to hurt you, but we got an injured pilot, and we need you to tend to him.” He motioned toward a man who lay in a bed a few feet away from the one Simon was in.
“There’s a perfectly good clinic in the city,” Simon said.
“Well, we aren’t much on fraternizing clinics crawling with Alliance personnel.”
Letting out a breath, Simon turned to the man who was holding him. “It would be easier for me to tend to your friend if you unhanded me.” When the man let him go, Simon walked toward the bed and found his patient conscious and playing with a pair of plastic dinosaurs.
Mal walked over to the bed. “Hey, Wash,” he said. “Doc’s gonna fix you up.”
Wash grinned at Mal and said, “I want to say how touched I am that you kidnapped a doctor for me. Really, I feel warm and fuzzy.”
Mal flashed a mock glare and turned to Simon. “Examine his head while you’re at it. What supplies we have are stuffed into the cabinets, and if you need something else, you tell Zoe here. She’s gonna stay and mind that you don’t kill her husband.”
Simon glanced at Zoe, a humorless-looking woman who stood guard by the door. He tried to ignore her gaze and started examining the wound on Wash’s leg. It wasn’t terribly bad, but if left untreated, it was an infection waiting to happen. And if it got infected out here in the middle of nowhere… “Uh, Zoe,” Simon called over his shoulder. “If you could get me the bag I was carrying, it has some antibiotics. He’ll need to get started on those immediately.”
As Zoe fetched the bag, Wash smiled. “You ever been kidnapped before?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
“First time is always the hardest, I reckon. Mal will let you go after this. He’s gruff on the outside and soft to a fault on the inside.”
Nodding, Simon took the bag from Zoe’s hands and fished out the desired antibiotics. “That’s a great comfort.”
“Do you have any family?” Wash asked.
“Me? Parents. No one else. I always wanted a sister or brother, but my parents stopped after me.”
“What brings you out to this beautiful hole in the middle of the universe?”
“Adventure, I suppose.” He cocked his head for a moment. “But I think I’ll stay. They need all the doctors they can get.”
“Frankly,” Zoe said from the doorway. “I’m surprised they sent you. They usually don’t pay much mind to the border worlds.”
“Well, I’m attached to a benevolence organization. We work with the permission of the Alliance, but we’re not directly affiliated with them. To tell you the truth, we only have marginally more medical supplies that you do.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Wash said. “There are some good people on these worlds, and they struggle just to get through the day.”
“Yeah.”
Simon finished up Wash’s leg, and true to Wash’s words, Mal and his people let Simon go afterward. Before he left, he gave them meager supply of antibiotics and pain medication for Wash, and he told them if they ever needed a doctor they didn’t need to kidnap him. They could simply ask for his help.
Mal had regarded him with obvious suspicion, but he nodded and said he’d take that prospect under advisement. Several weeks later, Simon was surprised to receive a message telling him to come down to the docks. When he did so, he found a shipment of medical supplies waiting for him with a note that said, Consider these a charitable donation, -W-.